Indicator for type-writers or caligraphs



(No Model.)

J. W. RICH. I INDICATOR FOR TYPE WRITERS 0R CALIGRAPHS.

Patented Sept. 11, 1883.

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UNIT D STATES PATENT Garret.

JOHN \V. RICH, O F MEGHANIGSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

INDICATOR FOR TYPE-WRITERS R CALIGRAPHS.

SPEIFIGATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 284,901, plated September 11, 1883,

Application filed May 31, 1883.

(No model.)

.To aZZ whom it mag concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN W. RICH, of Mechanicsburg, in the county of Cumberland and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Indicators for Type-Writers or Oaligraphs; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,- which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertainsto make and use the same, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form part of this specification.

The object of my invention is to facilitate the writing of bills, &c., with a typewriter or caligraph, enabling the operator, by the adjustment of certain pointers, to note the position of ditto marks, figures, words, 860., and to print with said type-writer or caligraph tables, bills, statements, 850., accurately and expeditiously, without the annoyance of raising the carriage to insure accuracy; and to that end my'invention consists in an attachment, made of any suitable material, adapted to be clamped or secured in any suitable manner to the front scale of a type-writer or caligraph, and provided with indices so arranged that they may be shifted, so as to indicate, when the index attached to the moving carriage passes them, the predetermined point or points in a line at which any desired character or characters may be struck or printed.

My invention further consists in details of construction herein-below fully described, and set forth in the specification and claims.

In the drawings accompanying this specificationis shown one means of carrying my invention into effect.

Figure 1 is a view taken in perspective. Fig. 2 is a section taken on line w as, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detail view.

A represents a flat rectangular piece of ivory, wood, brass, or any other suitably firm and durable material provided with slots (2 d, as shown.

In a groove, D, near the rear edge of this plate, is placed a scale-piece, B, of any suitable material, held firmly in place by hooks E E, sliding in beveled grooves .f f on the under face of the plate A, and bent, substantially as shown in the drawings, so as to firmly bind the scale-piece in its groove D. The scalepiece B is providedwith two or more slots, through which binding-screws may pass for securing the indicator to the type-writer or caligraph. I

c c are lugs pivoted on a rod or wire secured underneath the plate A in any suitablemanner, and adapted to be turned up, as shown at c c, or thrown back, as at c c c c.

In operating the device it is clamped to the machine in such a position that the index of the carriage will ride over the scale, and all of the pointers are put in the same position, either all thrown back, as at c c, or arranged as at c c. When it is desired to do any work in which the successive characters or words do not occur regularly, as in ordinary text, but in which there are more or less long spaces intervening regularly in the lines, as in writing bills, statements, or table-work, the pointers one or more, as may be necessarywhich are to indicate the position at which the characters or words are to be struck, are set at a position different from the othersfor example, as shown at c c c cand when the finger of the moving carriage-passes the corresponding lines on the scale the operator instantly knows, without use of memory or memorandum, that the proper point is reached and a character or word should be printed. The intermediate spaces may be filled with ditto marks or dashes, or left blank, as desired.

The device is susceptible of a varied use.

It may be used in printing tables in which columns of figures are arranged at regular intervals insuccessive lines, or in printing accounts where rows of figures-as dollars and centsare all struck in the same perpendicular line, and for other styles of writing or work that will occur to the operator, and need not be specified.

It will be evident that the scale B may not always be an essential element of my device, but secures by its use additional convenience; and that the plate A, by the clamps ff, may be secured upon the scale that is ordinarily attached to the front of type-writers or caligraphs by loosening the screws that bind it,"

and placing the hooks E E over it and then tightening the screws.

I desire it to be understood that I do not limit my invention to the particular device shown and described above, asI believe I am the'first to provide a type-writer or caligraph with means for operating as described. For example, instead of using the lugs c c and plate A, I might do away with the latter, and use a series of sliding buttons arranged to move to the right or left in a slot in the scale, or I might surround the scale with the desired number of fine wire rings, and secure the scale to the machine, so as to allow space between the two for the free movement of the rings, which may be initially all pushed to one side, or half on one side and half on the other, and when used one or more may be pushed out and left at the desired point on the scale. 7

I am aware that in many type-writers an index-finger overhanging the scale is secured to the moving carriage, and an operator'by remembering the numbers on the scaleat which the letters should be printed would be aided by such an index; but the difference between such a device and mine is striking. In mine the lugs that are out of line with the others determine the points, and the moment the index of the moving carriage arrives'at such a lug no exercise of the memory is necessary,

but theeye alone recognizes that a character must be printed. In the former the operator must think of the point on the scale every time the exceptional letters are to be struck. In the latter the scale is adjusted once for all.

I am also aware that means are commonly provided for. arresting the carriage at a certain point, and thus regulating the length of the line; but my invention does not pertain to such a function, but relates to means for showing at any desired number of points between the beginning and end of a line, as well as at such terminal points, where a character is to be printed.

Having thus described my invention, what I desire to claim and secure by Letters Patent, 1s-= 1. A scale for a type-writer or caligraph,

graphs, the combination of the plate A, having slots (1, as described, and the pivoted pointers c c 0 a, substantially as and for the purpose set forth- 4:. In an indicator for type-writers or caligraphs, the combination, with the plate A, having slots (1, as described, and the pivoted pointers c c c c, of the scale B, secured to said plate, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

5. The combination, with the plate A, having slots (1, as described, of the hooks E E, suitably secured to said plate, the whole adapted to be hung upon the scale of a type-writer or caligraph, substantially as described.

6. A11 indicator for type-writers or caligraphs, consisting of a plate, A, having slots 0?, and pointers c c c c in said slots, pivoted to a rod beneath the plate, in combination with a scale, B, having slots 9 g, secured to the-plate by hooks E E, provided with beveled tongue to slide in similarly-shaped recesses near the extremities of the. plate, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I hereunto affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

' JOHN WV. RICH. Witnesses:

1%. H. THOMAS, F. K. PLAYED. 

